Well I drove it about 30 miles. More than all previous trips combined. Still scares me to drive, but it ran pretty good. Unfortunately the fuel gauge didn't work at all so I'm temporarily crossing "I'm a genius" off the list and putting "bad ground" back on.
After another few weeks I found some time to spend on my truck. I finally set the timing. Wow, what a difference! Fires right up, even hot. I wired up the tach, that's kinda nice. Replaced the way to short fan belt that we had to pry on but needed something to run the truck. I put a 2 inch longer one on. Perfect. I spent some time cleaning up, (hiding) the wiring mess under the hood, then did some touch up painting on the Chevy orange that took a beating during the original install. Photos might not show it, but it looks a lot better under the hood. Also, the fuel gauge works.
My plan this afternoon was to change the headlight switch and straighten out the gauge cluster. The switch works for the running, tail and headlights, but the dash lights don't work. My new switch is different enough that my lack of electrical knowledge stopped me from getting it done. I messed with the original switch quite a while, but wasn't able to fix the problem. I put it back the way it was. Bummer. One of the many projects that take hours and produce nothing in return. Oh well, I did straighten out the gauge cluster. I'll buy the correct switch and try again.
Took the truck for a couple rides today. Ran great although I'm still expecting some catastrophic failure. Drove 54 mile round trip to East Lansing. Then put 4 gallons of gas in it. 13.5 MPG. I don't think I drove it at all in the few weeks since I filled it previously. This afternoon I put another 25 miles on it. I now have over 100 miles with nothing leaking, (to the point of sidelining me), falling off, (not including an emblem screw, or anything that fell off on the road that I'm not yet aware of), or catching fire. I'm starting to like driving this truck. Haven't taken it on the expressway yet.
At 2000 RPM in 5th gear I'm doing 60 MPH according to my GPS speedometer app. (The app is pretty accurate compared to my newer Sierra) Seems like a pretty good situation to me.
On the short to do list is welding on a couple tabs to the 57 Chevy truck rear end for the 47 knee shocks. That should help to stabilize the rear end of the truck a bit I think. Also, seat belts. That should help to stabilize the rear end of the pilot.
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
My plan for today was to try to seal up the leaking diff by pulling off the rear cover and resealing it, and maybe adding some sealant to the front side after cleaning everything up. When I crawled under the truck I was surprised to see a gear lube mess everywhere. Looks like it's been leaking possibly from the pinion seal and slinging everywhere. It's all over the exhaust. I'm not a rocket scientist but that doesn't seem safe. Especially since oil is dripping from the varnished wood bed. I'm seeing red flags for driving this thing until that's fixed. Unfortunately, I think that's beyond my limited capabilities.
I did get to the seat belts. They're bolted to a sheet metal floor. Hmmm. Not sure if that's a genius idea either. I did use the giant grade 8 washers under the floor, and If there was a situation that pulled those through the floor I've got serious problems anyway. I did manage to drop one of the screws that holds the seat back in place behind the seat. Spent way to long trying to retrieve it with long magnet tools and other doodads to no avail. Ugh, always something. Since this truck isn't safe at the moment I think I'll take my motorcycle for a long overdue ride.
Next thing I think will be adjusting the steering box as the shop manual describes. Can't get to it today though.
Got the headliner in today. I didn't scrape out all the old stuff like I probably should have. It'll be taken out and a brown headliner will be put in after the truck gets painted. The bows will get painted brown then too. The rest of the interior as well as the outside of the truck will be a dark hunter green.
It's amazing what a difference a couple pieces of cardboard make.
Those '47-early '49 headliners are much better looking than the later ones with the floating centers. I have have mine in my early '49 for 2 years and it still looks like new. My '50 headliner did not look as good as new right after I installed it.
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
Wasn't as bad to install as I was expecting either.
DOH! Guess I didn't think that through thoroughly. Oh well, visors are over rated anyway. I'll wait till later and put brown ones in. All new weatherstripping then too.
Yeah, planning on doing it when I redo the headliner. I need to put it in the floor too. Getting a lot of heat in the floor during the couple times I drove it. The name brand stuff is pretty expensive so I'm looking for a cheaper alternative.
Just got back from Hershey. After 2 days searching I found the part I've been looking for at the last vendor of the day. Guy had a bunch of GMC parts including this radiator cover front piece. (Got the top piece from one our fellow members here.) I wasn't smart enough to get the vendor's number. Doh! The original GMC radiator had an elbow that came off of it for the fill. I'll have to cut the top piece to adapt for my radiator. I paid a lot for the part but couldn't be happier. It's amazing how a 54 year old guy can get excited about finding a rusty piece of metal.
Might be a while before I can make the adjustments, paint and install, but I'll post some pics when I do.
Good for you! I've had mixed results at the swap meets. I usually get more excited by finding something at the salvage yard that I wasn't looking for - which explains my trailer full of parts I don't really need (but someone else hopefully does!)
Swap meets are great. Last year at Hershey I bought a set of NOS clutch and brake pedals for a 68-74 Nova. I don't actually own a Nova, but one day I'm gonna by golly, and it's gonna have a stick shift in it!
One of the challenges of being self employed is overcoming the urge to do something besides work. Sometimes I'm not good at that. On a brighter note I got the radiator cover done and installed in my 47. I'm pretty sure that's more important anyway.
Not sure if there's any interest in my crude cutting, grinding and generally abusing rare original GMC sheet metal, but I'll post the process pics anyway. Not sure how the pros do it.
I decided to put a set of oak side rails on the truck. Got started on em. My wife really wanted them. I could go either way, but now that they're taking shape I like them. Still have some work to do before I stain and finish them to match the bed. I'll post pics when I get to that.
No progress on the rear end other than that I spent some time talking with the owner of the Ring and Pinion shop near Detroit. I'm planning on bring him the pig from it. If he can save the gear set he'll rebuild it. He said new gears are hard to find. I need a hand pulling that apart so it sits for now.
Got the side rail thingies done today. When I was looking at doing these I looked at a bunch of em online. There didn't seem to be any standard for doing them, they were all very different. I wanted to stick with the farm truck look, but I didn't want it to look too utilitarian. So this is what I came up with. Matches the bed wood really well.
Finally got a chance to pull the pig out of the rear end. Wasn't pretty, but I got it out. I'll take it to the Ring and Pinion Shop near Detroit tomorrow afternoon. The shop owner told me if he could save the gears he could rebuild it. It shows the tell tale writing of having spent time in a salvage yard. I'd assume that was before the catastrophic meltdown.
The truck started great and sounded pretty good a couple days ago when I moved stuff around in my barn so I could position the truck to work on it. I'll keep you posted as the situation progresses.
Ring and Pinion shop (Clinton Twp, Mi.) called Thursday and said my differential was done. They completely rebuilt it using the existing ring and pinion which they said were fine. Was even a couple hundred bucks less than they originally quoted. Picked it up Friday and put it back together Friday eve. Put fresh gear oil in, tires on and took it for a 4 mile drive today. Ran great, even better, put a big smile on my face.
On to the next project. I think that'll be a rad overflow bottle. Got some thinking to do on that one. Wanting to use a Four Roses bottle a good buddy gave me, but I have to fab something that'll hold it and not break it. Also, there's really not a lot of room to place it.
The T5 was one of the best decisions that I made for this thing. I love it. The S10 version put the shifter in the exact perfect location with the bench seat. (I helped it a bit with the Hurst extension and short throw conversion) I'm glad the rear end was rebuild-able with the 3.90 gear ratio. That seems like the best setup for this truck with the 350 small block up front. I haven't had it much above 60 mph yet, but next summer I'm planning on driving it a lot.
Finally getting some decent days here in central Michigan. I switched out the headlight switch last week. Got the dash lights working for the first time in decades. Woohoo!
The interior has been a weak spot on this truck. The dash is a bit butchered up from a previous owner. I figured a body guy would have to fix that when the truck got painted, That isn't going to be any time soon. I was reading thru this thread and saw a post from Dads50 . (See pic below from Dads50 truck) I started to think maybe I could do the interior myself. I called a local welder-fab guy that I've used and been happy with. He came over and said he could weld in a patch where the radio hole butchery is. I just want the whole area filled in. Decided to install an electric wiper set-up before my access hole got filled in. I ordered that today. Hopefully I'll install it next week. Between the two local hardware stores they had both bronze Rust-oleum colors.
Came up with an idea for a radiator overflow bottle. (Not entirely original, I've seen whisky bottles used before) Wasn't sure how to mount it so I called a local leather craftsman that made a holster for me. I sent him (B.E. Long Leatherworks, Thanks Bernie!) the pic of me holding the bottle and asked him to come up with something. I really liked how it came out, then thought up the copper tubing idea. I realize it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. Kinda Steampunk meets Virginia still.
Got the electric wiper kit in. That was a bear to do. Pretty sure I did everything wrong, but it seems to work just fine. Took hours to get in and more to get it timed in. I ended up timing in the driver's side then bending the passenger's side connecting arm into submission until it worked. The switch with the original style knob just wouldn't fit so I make a bracket and mounted it under the dash. I'll put the original switch back in and change the functioning knob later when I paint the interior. The other challenge is that the speedometer won't go back in with the wiper motor in place. My hope is that when I take the gauge cluster to freshen it up I can put the speedo back in first, then the gauge cluster. No way I'm taking the wiper motor out again! Got the wipers on too. They're not exactly where I want them but that's a project for another day. And the wiring mess will need to be cleaned up one day.
I freshened up the speedometer last night. I broke some internal doodads taking it apart so it'll never work again, but it looks nice and that's what really matters.
Wasn't planning on hooking it up anyway. Not sure about the connection to my t5 and my phone has a speedo app that's pretty good. But I know what you mean.
Got the original '47 knee action shocks mounted up today. Made up a couple brackets and had em welded on. I'm guessing they should add some stability to the rear end. Used a couple heim joints.
In Michigan, as I suppose the rest of the globe, everything is basically closed. I'm self employed so I'm used to staying home. Fortunately I have some work in the shop. Not sure if I'll be unemployed for the duration of this thing or really busy. Either way, seems like I've got time to work on the truck. Especially if the weather is decent. (And I stay healthy)
I'm hoping to get the interior done over the next couple weeks. Planning on welding the chopped up area of the dash next Saturday, then I can paint it and reassemble everything. I'd like to get as much done in the meantime as possible but don't want to have to mask things twice. Might be trial and error like everything else I suppose. I'll keep y'all posted as things progress.
Not sure but the BBQ grill specific black spray paint that is really good to use on aluminium rads suggests 50F to be an ideal temp. Supposedly adhears well to aluminum. I sprayed a rad at about 50f and seemed good. Not that any ofthis has anything todo with rustoleum.
I know what you mean Glenns Towing. As much as I like the high end car shows on TV, I got hooked on a YouTuber named "DD speed Shop". He does his own budget hot rod stuff in a small garage in Canada. He's been working on an early 70s Chevy truck he pulled from a junk yard for a couple hundred bucks.
I'm in Michigan and we're a lockdown state. (Today is March 27th 2020). My main customer is a large supplier to the medical industry so naturally they've been deemed essential. Since I'm a vendor for them I'm part of their supply chain, so I'm busy working now. Ironically, I've been super slow all of Jan thru early March when it was to cold to work in the garage. Now that it's 50 and sunny I've got work to do in the shop. Not complaining, most of my buddies are not working at all.
Anyway, I did manage to get something done on the truck this week. I got it to the welder to patch in the dash (committing a misdemeanor by the act of driving it there, Jeez). He did a pretty good job of it. I put a coat of Bondo to fill in as needed. My skill set and tools consists of a couple YouTube videos (Why do people with no skills at all do "how to" videos?) and some sand paper and a piece of 2x4. All in all, it's good enough for now. I do think I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this project. I'm not taking the headliner down, and I'm really not sure where to tape and mask to. I'll keep ya'll posted but here's where it's at now.
Got some interior work done this weekend. I could never be a body and paint guy. Besides the fact that I don't know what I'm doing, it's really tedious and frustrating. I did make some progress though. Planning to put the actual paint on today, and maybe even start to put it back together.
Worked on the interior all day. The body work is a bit shady and the paint definitely has a rattle can vibe to it. If I had paid a lot to have it done I woulda wanted my money back, but considering I couldn't have done any better I'm actually pretty happy with the results. The pictures look almost as good as Dads50's.
Tomorrow I'll put the doors back together and hopefully start the weatherstripping install. I've got a feeling that'll be a chore.
